SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Affymetrix, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFFX - News) today announced that it has signed a distribution agreement with Fisher Scientific, Inc., part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, to distribute the GeneAtlas™ System and its related consumables through the Fisher Scientific channel throughout the United States and Canada. The GeneAtlas System is the first personal microarray solution to meet the demand among life scientists for an easy to use and affordable way to interrogate the whole genome. Fisher Scientific has a leading position in the life sciences market and provides an unparalleled reach and a proven record of customer service and support.

“We are excited to reach this agreement with Fisher Scientific because it allows us to expand our commercial sales in research markets while maintaining our focus further downstream in validation and clinical markets,” said Andy Last, Chief Commercial Officer at Affymetrix. “Now we have a partner with the industry’s strongest customer channel to take this technology to the broadest life scientist community, which is key to the GeneAtlas System’s success.”

The strategic partnership will bring the superior microarray technology of Affymetrix to every lab, putting whole-genome analysis into the hands of every researcher who has been limited by budget and inhibited by the complexity of microarray systems. Life scientists will no longer be forced to use less powerful technologies; settling for a limited view of the genome will become a thing of the past.

“We are also excited to be entering into this relationship with Affymetrix; it broadens our extensive genomic research portfolio and allows us to offer a full suite of solutions from discovery research through to validation,” said Dan Pantano, President of Fisher Scientific. “By partnering with the industry innovator and pioneer in microarray technology it provides Fisher Scientific an opportunity to offer customers a premium option when faced with challenging genomic research, and the GeneAtlas System is the perfect solution for many customers we routinely serve,” Pantano added.

At a never-before-seen price for a complete microarray analysis solution, the GeneAtlas System allows researchers to take control of their samples and accelerate their pace to results and publication. The easy-to-use bench top design provides a complete end-to-end solution for processing the industry’s most widely cited gene expression arrays and analyzing biological pathways. With integrated data analysis designed for biologists, not bioinformaticians, and wizard-driven statistical and pathway analysis, life scientists are only nine clicks away from data to pathways when using the GeneAtlas System, the simplest microarray workflow available.

About Affymetrix

Affymetrix technology is used by the world's top pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and biotechnology companies, as well as leading academic, government, and nonprofit research institutes. More than 2,000 systems have been shipped around the world and more than 22,000 peer-reviewed papers have been published using the technology.

Affymetrix is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., and has manufacturing facilities in Santa Clara, Cleveland, Ohio, and Singapore. The company has about 1,000 employees worldwide and maintains sales and distribution operations across Europe and Asia. For more information about Affymetrix, please visit http://www.affymetrix.com.

Disclaimer

The information stated above was prepared by Affymetrix, Inc. and reflects solely the opinion of Affymetrix, Inc. Nothing in this statement shall be construed to imply any support or endorsement of Affymetrix, Inc., or any of its products, by Fisher Scientific, Inc., its officers, agents and employees.

Forward-looking statements

All statements in this press release that are not historical are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act as amended, including statements regarding Affymetrix’ “expectations,” “beliefs,” “hopes,” “intentions,” “strategies” or the like. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially for Affymetrix from those projected. These and other risk factors are discussed in Affymetrix’ Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, and other SEC reports for subsequent quarterly periods.

NOTE: Affymetrix, the Affymetrix logo, and GeneAtlas System are trademarks or registered trademarks of Affymetrix Inc.